Badminton: Controversial Yu not to quit

Chinese badminton star Yu Yang was kicked out of the London Olympics.

HONG KONG: Chinese badminton star Yu Yang has denied quitting the sport after being kicked out of the London Olympics and said she just wants to focus on her game, following her winning return to competition. Yu, 26, raised eyebrows when she renewed her partnership with Wang to win last week’s China Open, since she had apparently announced her retirement a day after her expulsion in August. “I never said I would retire,” said in Hong Kong. “It was only other people who said so. The punishment (disqualification) was a big surprise as it had never been seen before in badminton. But that’s the decision made by the world federation and three other pairs from two other countries also got the same punishment. We can’t do anything but accept it. Now I want to get back to my game.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2012.